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Summary
Summary
When the local village yard sales invite theft and murder, feline sleuths Joe Grey and Dulcie are into the case with their claws sharp. And when the two sleek detectives investigate the prime suspect's house, where the police have no cause to enter, and pass the information across the continent to the New York PD --Joe Grey's tomcat instincts nail the killer before the cops have a clue.
Cat Laughing LastViolence and theft at a yard sale?
Murder because of an eBay auction?
The body on Susan Brittain's breakfast room floor and all her treasured purchases flung about and broken are not a good start to Susan's day. However, the criminal involvement is wider than she imagines, and may disrupt the lives of many others as well.Joe Grey and Dulcie suspect as much. With their unique ability to break and enter where the cops can't, the two cats begin gathering evidence. Meanwhile the cats' human friends deal with a famous author and his ill-tempered wife as they try to produce his play without coming to blows. And several senior ladies seek an innovative solution to retirement security, using their revenue from eBay and yard sales. But as Joe Grey and Oulcie dig into California history, they discover that certain artifacts, appearing at those same sales, hold the key to the puzzle. The crudely carved antique casks -- the legacy of a Spanish bride two hundred years dead-are the link the cats have been searching for.
Yet it is the young tortoiseshell, Kit, fascinated by the delights of theater production, who nearly gives away the cats' greatest secret. Kit, with her own surprising venture, almost alerts the entire village that these cats can speak and are more perceptive and sharper of wit than most humans could ever imagine.
Author Notes
Fiction author Shirley Rousseau Murphy grew up in Long Beach, California and majored in fine and commercial art at the San Francisco Art Institute. She has worked as a commercial artist and has exhibited paintings and sculptures extensively on the West Coast. She has also been a designer and an interior designer, as well as in a library in the Panama Canal Zone. Murphy has written several children's books, plus the fantasy novel The Catswold Portal, the Dragonbards trilogy, and the popular Joe Grey mystery series, for which she has won eight Muse Medallion awards from the Cat Writers' Association. She and her husband live in Carmel, California.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Joe Grey, remarkable tomcat and sleuth last seen in 2001's Cat Spitting Mad, returns in Murphy's seventh cute feline mystery of theft, intrigue and murder. When famous novelist Elliott Traynor and his wife, Vivi, 40 years his junior, move to Molena Point to oversee the production of Traynor's play at the local theater, strange happenings begin to plague the usually quiet California coastal town. First, dog-owner Susan Brittain's house is vandalized, prompting Joe, aided by furry comrades Dulcie and Kit, to embark on an investigation that will take them from the houses and shops, over the roofs of the town and into a murder scene. True to form, the cats supply the information necessary for the police to solve the crimes. Meanwhile, a multitude of subplots involving the human residents of Molena Point muddle the mystery. The Senior Survival Club (Mavity, Cora, Lee, Gabrielle and Susan) are concerned with their plan to buy a communal house for their old age; Clyde is still perplexed over his ex-girlfriend, Ryan; and Max Harper and Charlie are trying to work out their relationship. Poetic descriptions and miraculous cats who not only talk, make telephone calls, advise humans but also love to read good books and are as comfortable eating rats as they are caviar make this more fantasy than mystery. While constant references to past crimes and events will inform new readers, committed fans may be disappointed in what fails to meet the standards of prior outings. (Jan. 5) FYI: This series has won the Cat Writers Association Muse Medallion for three years in a row. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Dying novelist Elliot Traynor and his trophy wife Vivi have fled New York for peaceful Molena Point, California, so that Elliot can complete his last novel and oversee the premiere of his first play, a historical drama called Thorns of Gold, based on local lore. But Vivi's condescension and Elliot's erratic behavior trigger animosity in the coastal village. And why are the latest chapters in Elliot's work-in-progress so inferior to his earlier stuff? Young, not-so-talented Fern and talented, not-so-young Cora Lee vie for the play's leading role, passionate Catalina. Hours after their callback, each is attacked by an anonymous intruder, one fatally. Sounds like a job for talking cat sleuths Joe Grey and Dulcie. In this seventh outing (Cat Spitting Mad, 2001, etc.), the feline Nick and Nora have their paws full, solving the crime while looking after an overcurious feline known only as "the kit" and watching over their human acquaintances. (A sublime running joke of the series is that Joe and Dulcie have more stable lives and relationships than any of their human friends.) Subplots abound, threading a large cast of series regulars through the main storyline. As Susan Brittain and four quirky friends, calling themselves the Senior Survival Club, search for a bargain house in which to live out their golden years together, Joe, Dulcie, and the kit monitor and coach the dating lives of their unattached human providers. The unwieldy plot has loose ends everywhere, but the series premise remains delicious, executed with wry pungency and affection for life's small pleasures.
Booklist Review
Joe Grey and Dulcie are back in the seventh whodunit featuring the gray-and-white tomcat, the delicate tabby, and the tortoiseshell kit who has become their entrancing new sidekick. The mystery revolves around not only famous novelist Elliot Traynor, who is in Molena Point to oversee the little-theater production of his only play, but also the suspected existence of letters written some 200 years earlier by the ill-fated Spanish bride who is the play's subject. A series of peculiar events ensues, ranging from assorted break-ins and assaults to, eventually, brutal murder. The familiar humans sort out some of their interhuman relationships while still interacting with the cats, who, as expected, conduct their usual spying from underfoot and overhead and manage to work their way into locked rooms. As always, Murphy successfully walks the fine line between maintaining the cathood of her felines and endowing them with sentiency. Round up the usual readers; they will be delighted. --Sally Estes
Library Journal Review
Felines Joe Grey and Dulcie (Cat Spitting Mad) investigate a murder in the home of Joe's human friend Susan. This event coincides with the temporary presence in town of a famous novelist. Fun fare for cat fans. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.